


Only Time Will Tell

by AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crossover, F/F, Guilt, Identity Reveal, Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, One Shot, Post-Canon, Sad with a Happy Ending, Time Travel, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 20:52:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda/pseuds/AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda
Summary: Post 4x22 Supercorp Reveal One-Shot where sometimes it takes watching who you care for most slip through your fingers before you realise how much you would risk to have them back.ORThe one where Lena realises the art of forgiveness a little too late, but discovers there’s nothing she won’t do and nothing she won't sacrifice for her favourite reporter and Woman of Steel.*Note: Sad with a happy ending.





	Only Time Will Tell

Her tears fell like a melted glacier, streaming through it’s canyons in the earth, finally being set free from it’s arctic climate after the warm rays of spring time melted it’s icy prison. They fell for hours and hours, like a never ending reservoir of the pain, love and forgiveness she had been carrying in her frozen fortress of a heart, weighing her down with guilt as though a fat man was perched upon her chest.

 

Though the fat man had finally been lifted, and the ice had finally melted, and it felt like the tears might never stop falling.

 

“Do it,” she whispered, “just do it. Bring her back.”

 

~

 

The days were cooler now, longer and quieter too. She suspects it’s because Kara had finally taken a hint, and had given up her pursuit for Lena’s forgiveness. Along with Kara’s absence came the absence of her friends, the ones she had yelled at, screamed at, thrown things at in her rage induced betrayal.

 

She promised herself she wouldn’t act out, that she would be bigger and better than they all were, when in reality she was just the same. They all pursued her, some more persistent than others, some, incredibly more persistent than others, and then there was Kara, the most persistent of all.

 

The phone calls were just the beginning. Lena received them almost hourly once Kara had realised Lena knew. For someone so cunning, and for an investigative reporter no less, Lena didn’t think it would take so long for Kara to realise she knew. Lena practically spelt it out for weeks, dropping a trail of breadcrumbs for weeks until Kara finally had gathered the entire loaf.

 

The calls were relentless, non-stop and incessant. Lena never answered them, either declining or turning her phone off altogether. She debated blocking Kara's number, or disconnecting her own, but part of her craved the attention, part of her wanted to know that Kara actually cared, and it wasn't just a facade for three years. It didn’t take long until her voicebox had overflowed, and Kara had come knocking at her apartment and her office at L-Corp. After several attempts of trying to break into each, Lena vamped up her apartment security and revoked Kara’s access to the building.

 

She watched as Kara left her building in defeat that day, first having been denied access to Lena’s office, then the building altogether. Lena never wanted to go _that_ far, to hurt Kara the way Kara had hurt her. She was enraged, vengeful even to some degree, but not petty. Still, Kara never took the hint.

 

Next it was Supergirl, rattling on her apartment window, flying into her office during the light of day and the dark of night. Lena stayed silent while Kara talked, zoning out on that honey filled voice which used to fill her heart with warmth. Now it only deepened the cracks, the pain and the betrayal. Kara would talk for hours, sometimes not at all, choosing to sit in Lena’s office in her red and blue suit, not at all representative of the hero Lena once knew her as.

 

She would sit and she would sit, sometimes leaving to pick up some food for herself, and something extra for Lena. On one visit, she returned with her arms full of big belly burger, and a mocha latte extreme. It had been the most tempting that day, but Lena prevailed, ignoring Supergirl’s presence, ignoring Supergirl’s existence. 

 

Eventually the visits became less frequent, and then not at all after Supergirl realised Lena began locking her balcony doors. But still, Kara hadn’t taken the hint. So, she started sending flowers to Lena’s office and her apartment, Plumeria's to be exact, the same flowers Lena had overflowed Kara's desk with once upon a time. Once upon a time she liked to think they were _their_ flowers, not anymore. So, Lena threw them in her garbage disposal at home, and had them removed from her office, banning deliveries from Kara Danvers of CatCo magazine.

 

Her new assistant, Chloe, asked if Lena wanted to file a restraining order against the relentless reporter. Lena considered the option, but knew that Kara would find a way around it, like she had been doing for weeks. When the deliveries finally stopped, Lena thought it might finally be over, slightly saddened, but relieved no less, until she had been forced to work with Supergirl and the DEO.

 

Personal grudge aside, Lena worked with her former best friend and ultimate betrayer, ignoring her existence when she could, only conversing when she had to, to which Supergirl had stated was “always," since they were partners.

 

 _Partners_. That was a hoot.

 

That was also the day Lena lost it, that was the day her mask fell and she screamed the entire DEO down, throwing whatever she could at the Super from glass beakers to clipboards, to whiteboard markers to even her own high heels. Supergirl had stood there, taking the abuse with a sorrowful look on her face, urging the onlookers to move along, even ushering Alex, Brainy, J’onn and Nia out of the lab when they came racing upstairs, wondering what the commotion was about.

 

In her worst moment, Lena wished she had a kryptonite rock, a kryptonite something, a kryptonite anything so that Supergirl wasn’t impenetrable, so that Supergirl wasn’t invulnerable. She wanted Supergirl to hurt, she wanted Kara to hurt the way she had been for weeks. But she didn’t want to be that person, the sadistic vengeful Luthor like her brother. Lena never wanted to be that person, but her mask had fallen.

 

She left the DEO that day, not looking back, she left National City the next day, not looking back. The phone calls had stopped, the visits had stopped, the deliveries had stopped, everything had stopped. Lena was finally alone, completely and utterly alone.

 

She spent the next few weeks in a lake house in the mountains, revelling in the solitude, but missing the presence of her former best friend. She revelled in the silence and simplicity, but missed the honey coated voice which never failed to make her smile. She revelled in the atmosphere, cool and refreshing against her skin, but she missed the warmth which came from Kara’s Kryptonian physiology and her presence alone.

 

The weeks were hard, quiet and lonesome, but it gave Lena perspective, it gave her transparency, it gave her all the things that National City simply couldn’t offer her, the things which Kara couldn’t either. She returned home after three weeks, her return a surprise for everyone when she strolled her way through the CatCo bullpen, straight into the conference room where her former friends and best friend had been conversing over article pitches.

 

She suggested a few pitches, giving some of her employee’s the scoop on L-Corp’s latest design project. Kara had remained silent, watching as the journalists around her fought over the pitches. Part of Lena hoped Kara might fight for a scoop, simply because Kara was a talented journalist, but also because it would have given Lena hope, that Kara hadn’t completely given up on her that day weeks ago. 

 

 _Perspective_ , Lena reminded herself.

 

“Miss Danvers?” Lena called over the chaos of the room.

 

The room fell silent and Kara’s eyes locked onto hers in an instant, fear and surprise all swelling within those big blue eyes.

 

“If there’s a scoop which interests you, please, by all means take it.” Lena offered.

 

A few disgruntled grumbles sounded around the room, but the room remained quiet. It took a while for Kara to respond, long enough that Lena thought she had definitely lost all hope, until Kara meekly responded with, “I’m interested in the nanotech pitch, if that’s okay with you… Miss Luthor?”

 

“Of course,” Lena replied, sending a small smile in Kara’s direction.

 

Kara returned the smile out of habit, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It was a start at least, and Lena was grateful.

 

 _Transparency_ , Lena reminded herself. 

 

Time seemed to speed up from then, with Lena slowly assimilating herself back into Kara’s life. She was still hurt, still felt betrayed and wasn’t ready to forgive Kara just yet, but she had been working towards it. 

 

 _Baby steps_ , she told herself. _Baby steps and more baby steps._

 

They never spoke about the past when they did talk, neither woman brought it up because the pain was still fresh, and they had both done things and said things they regretted, some more than others. Though there was no innocent party involved, Lena wasn’t naive enough to consider herself a saint in this situation, she knew she had wronged Kara and hurt Kara. But the hope of regaining her trust and friendship with Kara was enough for Lena, because she knew, that despite her pain, Kara would always be worth it.

 

Both the reporter and the woman of steel had proven themselves to Lena, had protected her at all costs, had jeopardised and risked themselves for Lena on a number of occasions. Lena’s pain didn’t blind her from that truth. Her denial and sentimentality had blinded her from a number of things, but not of the sacrifices her former best friend and the woman of steel had made for her, sacrifices no one else had ever made for her.

 

So, _baby steps,_ she told herself. _Baby steps._

 

~

 

It was on a Friday afternoon that it happened, an action which only cemented Lena’s forgiveness and faith in her former best friend, but it was the action which took her away from Lena altogether.

 

Kara had become more open with Lena since, more honest about her endeavours as Supergirl, sharing parts of herself that Lena would have otherwise never known. She was less cautious too when she spoke, less concerned with opening up old wounds when she enthusiastically described her victory over yet another alien attack. This time, it was Lena who was receiving the scoop on Supergirl’s endeavours, and she was delighted to hear each and every one, admiring the way Kara beamed and buzzed with excitement like she used to.

 

Their relationship still hadn’t fully repaired, and Lena was still working towards forgiving Kara, but the pain was much, much less, and with things feeling like normal again, Lena suspected it wouldn’t be long until her heart had fully mended and she would be in a place where she could finally be honest with Kara herself, where they could both have the discussion that was so incredibly long overdue.

 

Kara took her by surprise though a few days earlier, when she had called in sick to work. Kara _never_ called in sick to work, she was the woman of steel for goodness sakes. So Lena was left a little rattled after receiving Kara’s call, both in concern for Kara’s well-being, but also thankful that those feelings still existed within herself.

 

She ventured to Kara’s apartment that night, chicken noodle soup in a styrofoam cup in hand. Kara answered the door in fuzzy socks, trackies, a pink sweater and an oversized blanket. Her glasses were discarded and Lena swore to herself that she would never get used to that look no matter how good of a place her and Kara finally reached.

 

However, the discarded glasses only emphasised the bags under Kara’s seemingly dulled orbs, and the redness around her nose.

 

“Kara… you never get sick.” Lena stated with concern, looking over Kara’s shivering frame.

 

“I do when I supernova,” Kara mumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

 

Lena recognised the term from when Kara had been on an excited tangent, telling Lena everything she could about Kara Zor-El, the woman of steel, not Kara Danvers, CatCo reporter. She joined Kara that night, now more cautious of her fragile and cold-stricken friend. The irony was not lost on her, considering a while ago she wanted nothing more than for Kara to be vulnerable and mortal. Now that she was, Lena wanted nothing more than for Kara to return to her usual self, safe from all the hazards of the world.

 

Perhaps it was Kara’s stories of the last time she had supernova’d which left Lena more than concerned, or maybe it was because deep down, Lena feared for the life of her friend more than she ever had before, now knowing that it was a life which had been continuously put on the line, which had been sacrificed over and over for the sake of others, including her own.

 

Part of Lena wished it wasn’t in Kara’s DNA or inert nature to run in the direction of danger instead of away from it, now that she knew the truth. Because since finding out, even when she thought she hated Kara, she had always been concerned whenever she saw a streak of red and blue zip by her window, or zip through the sky on a TV monitor.

 

She suspected that concern, that burden of concern was part of the reason Kara never told her the truth, which only made Kara’s actions more sensical, but they still hadn’t had that conversation yet. But perhaps it was time, when Kara was all well and good, perhaps it would be time.

 

So, Kara returned to work on a Friday after having spent the whole week off. Her cold was vanquished, thanks to the help of soup, decongestant and musical movies because “the Wizard of Oz always makes me feel better Lena,” but her powers were still gone.

 

It wasn’t the longest of Kara’s supernova’s, if Lena’s memory serves her correctly, but it was coming up to it. So, Lena made Kara promise to be extra and careful and, “for the love of Rao, Kara, I don’t care who it is, but if you see danger, promise me you’ll run away!”

 

Kara had lived up to her promise successfully for almost five days, remaining in her apartment, fighting off the worst of her cold. She had Alex drive her to CatCo on the Friday morning, to which lena was grateful for seeing as Kara didn’t own a car. Lena watched as Kara remained in her seat all day, despite the muggings that were being live reported as petty criminals used Supergirl’s absence for their criminal motivation.

 

It had almost worked, _almost_.

 

The sun was beginning it’s descent over the bay of National City, it’s rays shining through the office windows and opened balcony. Lena was waiting by the printer, watching as Kara’s body shifted frontward towards the light of the sun, soaking in the radiation.

 

It was almost perfect when suddenly a clouded blue whirlpool appeared in the middle of the bullpen and two beings appeared out of thin air. Gasps and squeals circulated the office as the two people, one of them obscured by a cloak and a dark mask, and the other, almost celestial looking, looked around the bullpen.

 

“Where is the one you call Supergirl?” The celestial spoke.

 

Lena’s eyes shot to Kara, who was eyeing the creature as she mouthed something in recognition. Kara didn’t move however, she stayed hidden, safely behind her glasses and clothed disguise.

 

“Whoever you are, you need to leave,” Lena spoke up, stepping front and centre in the line of sight of the two beings.

 

Kara looked at her, her eyes pleading Lena to stand down. Her fist gripped the edge of the desk and her complexion was pale. Lena had never seen her friend look more frightened, never seen _Supergirl_ look more frightened.

 

“You speak for the people of this earth?” The cloaked figure spoke.

 

 _This earth?_ The creatures words were circulating in Lena’s mind, rapidly pulling together facts from the stories and heroics Kara had shared with her.

 

“Then tell us, where is the one you call Supergirl?” The figure stepped closer, raising it’s arm as a large, glowing, axe-looking staff materialised into their grip.

 

Lena stood strong, holding her ground despite Kara’s visible shaking from where she stood by the desk. “Supergirl is not here. You have come to the wrong earth. Now, you need to leave.”

 

“The human lies,” the celestial spoke, almost robotically.

 

The cloaked figure chuckled. “Perhaps and incentive is in order.”

 

It happened so fast, too fast, in fact, it happened _super_ fast.

 

The cloaked figure wielded the staff as the intensity of it’s glow increased, and they brought the staff down, slicing through the air like a lumberjack slicing through a fall tree. In an instant, Lena saw her life flash, the memories, the love, the pain, the heartache, the betrayal, and then the forgiveness she had yet to give Kara, but would now never be able to.

 

She watched it all happen in a flash, and she watched it disappear in a flash as she was pulled back into reality.

 

She felt it then, not the searing burn of her skin evaporating from her body, not the blinding light of heaven or fiery blaze of hell, but the familiar warmth of a hand, a hand pushing her backwards into the wall and away from the line of fire. She saw a body, then another flash of brightness, then open space of where a body once stood.

 

Lena barely registered that a second whirlpool had formed, and that a man in a red leather suit had come through it. She barely registered the screams of her employers, the blood trickling down her arm and her brow, or the pounding in her head. She barely registered anything at all, anything that wasn’t Kara.

 

Kara had moved, she had moved and she promised Lena she wouldn’t, but she had moved.

 

Lena crawled around the corner, staring toward the grand white desk in James Olsen’s office, now snapped in two. The multitude of televisions perched upon the all were cracked, glitching and broken, some of them even surrounded the body which lay writhing on the floor.

 

Lena crawled toward the body, disregarding the trail of her own blood staining the carpeted floor. She reached out, only to grab nothing but air as the man in the red suit flashed by Lena, picking up Kara’s body carefully in his arms before disappearing in a flash.

 

The sun had almost finished it’s descent over the bay of National City, the last of it’s rays shining through the office windows and opened balcony. Lena lay quivering by the snapped desk, clutching her head as she stared out into the horizon in the direction the man in red flashed.

 

It had almost been perfect, _almost_.

 

~

 

Her tears fell like a melted glacier, streaming through it’s canyons in the earth, finally being set free from it’s arctic climate after the warm rays of spring time melted it’s icy prison. They fell for hours and hours, like a never ending reservoir of the pain, love and forgiveness she had been carrying in her frozen fortress of a heart, weighing her down with guilt as though a fat man was perched upon her chest.

 

The fat man had finally been lifted, and they ice had finally melted, and it felt like the tears might never stop falling.

 

Lena was brought distraught to the DEO not long after the man in red had left with Kara. Upon arriving, Lena had recognised the insignia on his chest belonging to a man Kara had described as “The Flash, hero of Earth 1 and my favourite inter-universal person ever.”

 

He gave her a sorrowful expression as the medics surrounded Lena, examining the large cut on her arm and head. She pushed them away as best she could, frantically denying their help as she tried to stumble her way to the med bay. Alex was before her in an instant, holding her body up before she collapsed.

 

“Take me to Kara,” Lena muttered, “just take me to Kara.”

 

Alex shushed her, gently guiding her to a wheelchair near by before taking Lena to the med bay where Kara lay, now completely motionless amongst the chaos of doctors skirting in and around her body.

 

She recognised the erratic beeping, and then the monotonous sound of the monitor as the doctors held up defibrillation paddles, shocking the girl of steel once, twice, three times, before the room fell silent. All that was heard was the continuous monotonous beep.

 

That's all Lena heard for hours as she was granted access to the room so she could see her friend once more. Kara’s hand lay, still warm but stiff in Lena’s as she waited and waited. A couple of times the doctors came in, ushering Lena away. Eventually Alex came in as well, a harrowing look on her features.

 

“It’s time,” she said.

 

Lena couldn’t remember what she said next, even if she tried. The tears continued to fall as she pleaded, maxing out the intensity of the sun lamps surrounding Kara’s bed.

 

“The lamps won’t work, Lena,” Alex spoke, wiping furiously at her eyes. “They only work when she’s alive… but she’s-“

 

“No!” Lena yelled, gripping Kara’s hand even tighter now. Her hand was no longer warm anymore, no longer Kara.

 

“They have to. They have to work, otherwise I’ve lost everything, again. And I can’t… I can’t lose her again. So figure it out.”

 

Alex pulled a chair up beside Lena, and sat there with her in silence. Lena scowled at the doctors as they walked past, waiting for her leave. But she stayed, for hours more, still hoping for a miracle, hoping for the impossible.

 

Eventually, the sun began rising again, filling the DEO with light from it’s darkened slumber. There was silence that day, as workers payed their respects to those grieving the loss of Supergirl. The Flash had stayed behind too, pacing the complex all night, seemingly considering something very important.

 

Eventually, he too had risen, and appeared by the door of the med bay. His eyes were red and his hair ruffled, but it was his next words which pulled Lena’s attention.

 

“I can bring her back.” He said. “It will be risky. I’ve never travelled in time during a timeline that’s not my own in a world that’s not my own. But I can try, we have to try something.”

 

Alex tried persuading him not, reasoning with him that there was simply nothing left to do. She had lost her faith, but Lena still had hers.

 

“Do it,” she whispered, “just do it. Bring her back.”

 

The man in red nodded and left the room, Alex tailing him, muttering things about quantum entanglement and black holes, but Lena didn’t care. She just wanted Kara back, she needed Kara back. She looked down at the stiffened and pale body, and she a placed a kiss on Kara's forehead, a single tear falling onto the Kryptonian's skin. 

 

"You promised me you would run away," she whispered. 

 

She left the room then, locking the door as she did so and breaking off a key inside the lock, preventing the doctors from entering for a while. She had to keep the body safe, she had to keep Kara safe. She chased after the man in red, catching him adjusting his mask over his face, looking as though he were about to start a hundred metre sprint.

 

"How will I know if it works?" Lena asked.

 

The man in red knelt down, placing his fingertips on on floor, arching his back to take off. He glanced at Lena, and an orange lightning bolt flashed within his iris. 

 

"You won't."

 

The man in red took off, and for the third time, a clouded blue whirlpool materialised and the man in red disappeared.

 

~

 

Her tears fell like a melted glacier, streaming through it’s canyons in the earth, finally being set free from it’s arctic climate after the warm rays of spring time melted it’s icy prison. They fell for hours and hours, like a never ending reservoir of the pain, love and forgiveness she had been carrying in her frozen fortress of a heart, weighing her down with guilt as though a fat man was perched upon her chest.

 

The fat man had finally been lifted, and they ice had finally melted, and it felt like the tears might never stop falling.

 

Kara had been unconscious for hours, unmoving in the med bed despite the multitude of sun lamps surrounding her. Lena was finally granted access after the doctors had shuffled away, stating that their was nothing to do but wait. Her heart was steady though, beating in a strong rhythm, so why wasn't she waking up?

 

By some miracle, her injuries had almost completely healed, aided by the sun lamps, so why wasn't she waking up?

 

Lena barely slept that night, cradling Kara's warm hand in her own, tracing the lines of Kara's palm, tracing Kara's knuckles, all the way up her arm and to her neck, up to her jawline. She did that over and over, lost in her actions as hours passed without her knowledge.

Eventually, the sun began rising again, filling the DEO with light from it’s darkened slumber. There was silence that day, as workers moved anxiously around, impatient for the condition update on Supergirl. The Flash had stayed behind too, pacing the complex all night, muttering to himself while he did so. 

 

"Why isn't is working? I reached her, I saved her. Why isn't it working?" He muttered, over and over.

 

Lena was almost about to ask him if that big blue whirlpool he jumped through in CatCo had fizzled his brain, but then she felt it, the familiar warmth of a hand, a hand gripping her own as Kara began to stir from her own darkened slumber.

 

"Kara?" Lena whispered, brushing a few stray hairs from the woman's face.

 

Kara mumbled in response, her face contorting in pain as she tried to move.

 

"Don't move, Kara," Lena whispered again. "just listen. You promised me you would run away. You promised me a lot of thing, but that's okay, because you are who you are, Kara. You care more about the lives of others than you do your own. You're Supergirl, and I've come to realise that that is one of the many things I love about you. Your spirit, your courage, and your strength, and I am sorry. I am so sorry. But promise me, run the hell away next time, because I can't lose you, not again."

 

Kara's eyes opened, glossy and glistening. "Haven't you realised by now? I can't run away from you. I will always run towards you, danger or no danger," Kara spoke in that honey filled voice which filled her heart with warmth.

 

"Always?" Lena questioned with a sigh, gazing at Kara with a saddened, crooked smile.

 

"Always." 

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of finishing off my last assignment ever for uni, I’m writing supercorp fictions haha.
> 
> If you haven’t already, check out my other Supercorp post-reveal fiction ‘Remind Me to Forget.’ This is my second reveal fiction, the idea has been with me for a few days now so hopefully it turned out okay! It's a little far fetched and all, and not something I would usually write since I'm more so on the side of things where Lena and Kara won't actually turn out okay, at least not for a long while. But I think we all need some happiness after some angst :). 
> 
> P.S. Still no beta for this one and I haven't properly edited this. YOLO.


End file.
